What's going on?

Today was an overflow day at the Soup Kitchen/Food Pantry in the Stapleton section of Staten Island. For close to thirty years I have been a volunteer at the Soup Kitchen located at Trinity Lutheran Church on St Paul's Avenue. Back then if we had 40 folks for lunch we were really hustling. Today we had 117.


One of the reasons is that back in the day the Food Pantry operated on Friday evenings, and we served on Saturdays.  Now we work in tandem, and our numbers for both ministries have skyrocketed.


And the work is more difficult.  We have more clients who are in need of better physical and mental health services.  We see more folks who have lost jobs or are returning from incarceration. More mothers and children show up to have a meal after they pick up food from the pantry.  More Mexican and Central American day laborers come in. Many of these guys are homeless and ineligible for referrals to shelters because they are either drug or alcohol abusers or both. They arrive late for lunch so pie-eyed I am amazed they can climb the stairs.  They drink several cups of coffee, chow down on dessert, scrape the lunch into a plastic container and grab an extra orange/apple or two from the box  as they leave. They then  hightail it into the Food Pantry to see if they can convince the clean up crew to give them some bread or peanut butter or both.  They will be back next week; they do not remember what they did the week before, and the dance will begin again.


Then there is "Jacks".  A senior citizen,well known to those of us in the social service business on Staten Island.  He comes every week at around 10am.  If it is not his week to get a Food Pantry pick up, he solicits "donations"....so you don't want those Corn Flakes??? Jacks will take them off your hands, as well as those cans of sardines you are not sure what to do with. Jacks knows and is happy to take your excess.  Next on his agenda is checking out lunch. 


Every week for the past five years, Jacks has been first online to get to the lunchroom. He has explained to me several times that he is a "big guy", and as such, needs us to provide him with an over-large portion. If the portion is not up to Jacks' standards, he may resort to "table surfing".  That is a ritual in which Jacks, once he has finished his meal, stands against the wall and looks intently around the room.  He might spot a family group in which one or two young children did not finish their meal.  He will swoop down, scrap the leftovers onto his reserved plate, sit down and join the folks for another go round.  Today, he did this three times. We try to be overly generous when we serve lunch, but Jacks just thinks we are being too controlling. 

Today I expressed my concern that his habit of finishing off someone else's lunch might be a health risk  He told me that he has been dong this for years, and has never gotten sick.  Oh, by the way, he says, we have the best meals of all the places he goes to eat.  Is this a complement?


I also have two or three regular late comers.  I call one "The Charmer".  He arrives fifteen minutes before we close and packs his lunch "to go" in his own Chinese "take out" container. Bur, he does try to get something .  I do not bite.


     "M'am" he says, " If you close at one and have leftovers, can you give me seconds?"
      "No", is my reply. "We close at one; I feed my staff, and the rest goes to the outreach center;    you can go there if you are still hungry.  It is four blocks down, three blocks over."
     "Well", he says, " I can take some of that burden off of you."
     "Hum", I say, " We can shoulder that burden."


I call the other one "The Philosopher". He is a gentleman of a certain age, an artist, who has fallen on hard times.  He knows and acknowledges many of the volunteers by name and engages several in bright and interesting conversations.  He loves art and is often seen at local events.  He is not a constant client, but comes when funding for his newest project dries up.


 My favorite "late comer" is the "Haitian Cowboy" an eccentric Creole gentleman who, despite a physical disability, shows a real compassion for others and never complains about his state.  I do so love his broad brimmed fedora which he wears with aplomb and a style like no other. And although Walter, our plant supervisor, does not share my admiration for this client, he is always willing to make a place for him at table.


Now, some of you may think I am a really mean person.  Think what you want.  I have to abide by the rules set up by the Soup Kitchen and the NYC  Dept. of Health. I never know how many people the Lord is sending me to feed today.  I never know if I will run out of food. I never know who needs our listening ear today.   And I never know who is going to be walking with me on this journey .